Idle No More: Spence decides to snub meeting with Harper

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence says she is no longer attending her long-sought meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday because Governor General David Johnston will not be going.

“I will not be attending Friday’s meeting with the prime minister, as the governor general’s attendance is integral when discussing inherent and treaty rights,” Spence said in a statement Wednesday after a morning of conflicting statements from her staff.

Spence said they wrote to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen to send her Canadian representative to Friday’s meeting. She said Johnston officially turned down her request.

“This is a time of crisis and this government of the day is not taking Indigenous Peoples seriously,” added Danny Metatawabin in the statement. “We are sending messages to the Queen. Canada should take notice and act honourably.”

Spence made the statement after a morning of conflicting statements to various media outlets about whether she would be attending Friday’s meeting. This came a day after a Toronto Star reporter said she was kicked off the Victoria Island site where Spence is set up by her supporters and a Global News crew was reportedly escorted off Attawapiskat by band police after trying to interview residents.

Spence reportedly also declared she would not attend the meeting with Harper unless Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty was also in attendance. The outgoing Ontario premier would be unavailable to attend because he will be in China. McGuinty is not mentioned in her statement.

Spence’s statement also accused Canada of acting in bad faith by releasing an audit on the state of Attawapiskat.

I admire what Spence is doing, but it’s tough to defend those numbers

The audit, released Monday as Spence’s fight to meet Harper seemed to be reaching its fever pitch, showed millions unaccounted for among the $104 million in federal funding from 2005 to 2011.

Spence’s move comes as some First Nations leaders say that Spence’s fiscal mismanagement is indefensible and it threatens to undermine reserves that keep their books in order.

“I admire what Spence is doing, but it’s tough to defend those numbers,” Kanesatake Grand Chief Serge Simon told the Montreal Gazette shortly after a damning audit into Attawapiskat’s finances was released.

“When something like this happens, it kind of rubs off on all of us,” added Ryan Rice, an administrator for the Kahnawake Mohawk Council.

“But the truth is, we never run a deficit and our books are always balanced,” he said.